18 April 2008
Luanda — The provincial health authorities of Luanda intend to vaccinate, during the second phase of the campaign against Poliomyelitis that starts this Friday, over 1.7 million children, aged from zero to five years.
Catarina Oatanha, a physician with the provincial health department, explained that just like in the first phase held in March, the vaccinators will call on people's houses, marking with ink a finger of the child that is vaccinated, to avoid repetition.
The other way to guarantee the success of the campaign, said Catarina Oatanha, is that the citizens will be integrated in teams, mainly the community leaders, for them to sensitise the people.
The official alerted parents that in case any of their children is not vaccinated by Sunday, they are to look for a mobile vaccination team in the surroundings of their residences, in order to have them immunised.
The campaign against child paralysis is an emergency, due to the case detected last January, in Viana District, by the provincial sanitary authorities of Luanda.
The first phase is being held only in the country's capital city, then in May the vaccination campaign will be extended to the whole country.
The campaign will involve about three thousand teams, two vaccinators for each one.
Co-ordinators, supervisors, logistical and mobilising staffs will also be involved, including mobile and fix brigades, supported by over 90 cars. Besides vaccinating from house to house, there will be fix posts in the medical centres, hospitals, markets, schools, churches, among other places.
Poliomyelitis, also known as child paralysis, is a disease that attacks mainly the spinal medulla and lower limbs.
Luanda Province has nine districts.
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